Why is there a picture of The Joker on my first post? Because I can.
Oh, originality. Such a tricky goal. As writers, we have to find the balance between cliche and obscure. Between making the reader comfortable and making them squirm a little. If only there was some sort of useful trick we could use.
Oh wait, there is. It’s called repetition. No, I don’t mean like anaphora, I mean like large scale repetition that is available to all writers of all genres. To repeat something fellow barker Cathie said earlier this week, “we love to see something familiar, but with a slight change.” And it’s true. As readers, we feel like we get happy bonus points when we recognize something, especially when it’s slightly disguised by a little change. It’s like finding Waldo.
But can’t the repetition of ideas border on cliche, you ask? Eh, probably. If all of us keep accessing the same familiar things. Like vampires. But I’ve been thinking a lot recently about character repetition and how useful of a trick this is. I’m a big fan of narrative poems, but something I always struggle with is how to convey a proper amount of backstory without making it sound like an obvious scaffolding effort. So I repeat a character that already exists in the world, like Snow White, or Goldilocks, or the Joker, and conveniently you already know the backstory. (Ok, nobody actually knows the Joker’s backstory – that’s part of his charm.) But you feel like you have something to hold on to, some inside information. Read more »
Last year I blogged here on Bark about how book trailers were essential–according to some publishing experts–to properly market your book. As expected, many authors didn’t agree and/or made trailers that made fun of the whole concept.
My favorite back then was Dennis Cass’s “Book Launch 2.0,” which won the 2010 Moby Award (The Oscars of the Book Trailers) for Best Performance by an Author.
Morgan Spurlock–of 30 Days, Super Size Me, and A Day in the Life–is casting for a new documentary series.
Is there something that you have always dreamed of doing but have been too afraid of failing to try? Did you always want to open a restaurant, write that Great American Novel or maybe even climb a mountain! If you are ready to overcome that fear of failure, then we want to hear your story.
The new series will be called Failure Club and is “about embracing the fear of failure in order to change your life.” Meeting weekly for a year, the cast will help each other achieve their dreams.
I’m a big fan of Spurlocks, but have mixed feelings about this series. What if the people answering the casting call are just fulfilling their “big dream” of being on TV? Many reality TV shows have this problem.
Will most of the people apply because they think being on TV will give them a greater chance of getting published, open a restaurant, star in a play, or join the circus? As opposed to truly master a craft or a discipline. How will he make sure it doesn’t become another version of Starting Over?
Bottom line is, I’m worried about how he’ll make this a documentary–a style I love–and not a reality TV show–which I can’t stand.
Despite my pre-series anxiousness, I’m pretty sure I’ll watch the show. So far Spurlock has never disappointed me, and I’m a sucker for underdogs-achieveing-their-dream-type stories.
If you’re an “inspiring and fun every-day” person with “big, unfulfilled goals” and over 21 and happen to be living in or planning to move to NYC or the tri-state area, you should apply. I’d watch you every week and cheer you on. By the time the show airs, you either could have achieved your dream or be signing up for Failure Club 2.
Even this photo has me reaching for a tissue. Damn you, Hanks.
I recently watched a trailer for the film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Maybe it’s because Tom Hanks is clearly getting so much older, maybe it’s the U2 song, or 9/11, or the insane intensity of the little boys acting, but within 2mins I found myself crying. Like, the ugly cry where you look over your shoulder to make sure neighbors can’t see you through the window. It was embarrassing.
(fun sidenote: the boy was discovered on teenage Jeopardy!)
Despite my deep love for Everything is Illuminated, and my excitement upon hearing Foer was coming out with another novel, I never picked up Extremely Loud. I would see its shiny-hand cover, feel myself walk toward it, then just keep walking. Friends read it, teachers read it, but I avoided it.
I think because I knew it was about post-9/11 life. And because the child narrator (though I’m not sure if he is) seemed to have Asperger characteristics.
All these factors added up to a story I just didn’t feel like reading. I already have way too many opinions and feelings toward these topics. Read more »
In case some of our readers hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m a bit of a geek. I may be a student of the humanities but I love science, I love technology, and my other big passion besides writing is video-games. It could be argued that the 1996 PC title Riven, a haunting game that explored the wonders and ethical dangers of storytelling, was actually responsible for my initial desire to write. I’ve found it compelling over the last decade to watch as electronic media emerges as an art form unto itself, and I follow developments related to that sphere with great interest.
Of course, as with any innovation, the results are not always shiny-happy-progress. Sometimes the results are actually harmful; more often than not, though, they’re just stupid. Kotaku’s Brian Crecente reports that a recent documentary by UK studio ITV features purported footage of “IRA terrorists” armed with Libyan anti-aircraft weapons, shooting down a Royal Army helicopter in 1988. The footage, while certainly riveting, is actually gameplay from 2009′s online combat shooter ARMA II. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen ARMA being played, and the graphics are quite good, if a bit dated. On the average low-quality TV screen some viewers, unfamiliar with modern conveniences like “video games” or “that awful rock-and-roll music,” would likely not even notice. That said: come on, guys. ITV claims this was a mix-up over use of the wrong clip, but any video editor worth his salt should have picked up on this right away. The glitchy, stilted movements of the soldiers in the beginning should have been a dead giveaway. Read more »
The house that launched a thousand mangled magazines
I’ve been trying to write the same five lines of a poem all summer. The problem is this: I want, most of all, to capture the setting. And I’m failing.
The older I get the more aware I’m becoming of my quiet obsession with settings. How the space (what a pretentious word) of something affects everything around it.
If you know me you’ve probably heard me say some stupid shit about wanting my apartment to feel healthy. I make sure to have plants to add life. After my neighbors have particularly ugly fights I’ll leave my windows open to air out the area. What a weirdo.
I also have a scrapbook filled with images from a decade’s worth of Architectural Digest. My grandmother used to subscribe to it and would give me her old copies.
At first I just didn’t know how to say no (honestly, what 14yr old wants AD?) but I quickly became seduced by the homes, gardens, hallways, light fixtures, chaise lounges, etc. Maybe it was a form of playing house? Or 2D dollhouses? All I know is I spent many nights as a teenager sitting cross-legged on my bedroom floor surrounded by magazine clippings. Kitchens I wanted to cook in, greenhouses I wanted to grow herbs in, and gardens I wanted to do dirty, dirty deeds in. Read more »
You’ve probably seen Psycho, one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous films (and my personal favorite). If not, you’ve definitely heard the music, or at least seen the shower scene or one of the movie’s manyparodies. If not, there are some spoilers ahead, but honestly, it’s been forty-one years since the movie came out, so if there’s any kind of statute of limitations on that kind of thing, it’s definitely passed.
Personally, I saw the movie for the first time a few years ago, having seen plenty of pop-cultural references to it, but never the film itself. And then about a month ago I was in the library when I stumbled across the original novel, and I absolutely had to read it. I’m not one for most genre writing, and I’d never actually read a horror novel, but I figured since I can handle the movie (I’m a bit squeamish), I could handle the book.
Psycho (the book) is only 142 pages long, and though the dialogue is actually quite different from the movie, it often reads like a movie script. But the most interesting part, to me, was getting inside the characters’ heads in a way the movie can’t. Especially Norman’s–he so firmly believes his mother is alive. Mary (Marion in the movie, but just Mary in the book) is much more developed, and her troubles are both clearer and more complex: Read more »
I think you’re supposed to do the butterfly through seas of academic research, and I can only do the doggy paddle. In any case, I’ve been submerged for days and my head probably hasn’t dipped under as much as it’s supposed to, but I’m getting the gist of what’s down there below the surface.
I’m looking into research that helps explain mental shortcuts people make in order to take stances on complex topics without knowing much about them. These are some of the things research has found that we do:
We fit ourselves into identity groups and align our views with others in our groups. Then, as we see additional information about a given controversial topic, we take note of the parts that reinforce our own view of how the world should be. Also, we tend to ascribe the greatest level of authority to those who represent our own views.
The result? We tend to become increasingly polarized on issues even as we are exposed to balanced arguments and data.
At this point, you may not be stunned. But the most interesting part of the research I’m looking at is the way in which this power team* has grouped us. Read more »
The Clutter family farmhouse where the murders took place & Truman Capote
I know very little about Truman Capote. I’ve never seen the Hoffman-Oscarwinning-film and I’ve never watched a Biography Channel special on him.
Up until a few days ago I hadn’t given Truman Capote much thought except for these two pieces of knowledge:
1) He was in Neil Simon’s film Murder By Death
& 2) I’ve always hated Holly Golightly
A few days ago I finished reading In Cold Blood. Despite sleeping a few nights with lights on and developing an irrational fear of farmhouses, I’ve become fixated on the murders, the book, and Truman Capote. The book was wonderfully written and I haven’t been that engrossed in a story for a very long time. I tend to roll my eyes at people who use the phrase, but I’m gona come out and say it, I couldn’t put it down.
One of the main details I can’t seem to shake is the fact that someone lives in the house. The farmhouse was sold to a family several years after the murders. People.live.in.the.house. Read more »
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